After jumping out to a quick start with four wins and a tie in their first five games in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, the Wildcats faced a letdown day in a rare Monday game on Jan. 27 and dropped a 1-0 decision to Los Altos.

The loss came just three days after the Cats had posted a huge 2-0 win in a battled for first place with Palo Alto.

“We came out flat, and we couldn’t afford to be at anything but our best against that Los Altos team,” said Los Gatos coach Jack Schweitzer. “Credit to them–they were first to every ball and were absolutely the better team.”

“It’s frustrating to see us play arguably our best game of the year against Palo Alto, and then follow it up with this effort,” he said. “Hopefully this game serves as a wake-up call to our team.”

The loss left the Cats 4-1-1 in league play and 6-2-4 overall heading into a midweek game against Monta Vista. Los Gatos will entertain Saratoga on Jan. 31, 3:30 p.m., before heading to Mountain View on Feb. 5, 3:30 p.m. The Spartans are 3-0-3 in league play.

Los Gatos stuck Paly with its first league loss last Friday, scoring a goal in each half in the 2-0 win.

The Cats broke the scoring ice early when Kayla McQuade knocked in a goal in the seventh minute.

“Midfielder Maddie Medved played a ball over the head of the Palo Alto defenders to [McQuade], who took a big touch out in front of her to separate herself from the defense and then touched the ball underneath the oncoming Palo Alto goalkeeper,” said Schweitzer.

Paly threatened in the second half, but the Los Gatos defense was up for the challenge.

“[They] came roaring out of the gates and it seemed inevitable that they would get the equalizing goal,” said Schweitzer. “Time after time, they moved the ball deep into our half, but every time they were met by one of our defenders who was able to get the ball out of harms way.”

One of those solid defensive stands led directly to the Wildcats’ second goal of the day.

“About 15 minutes into the half Palo Alto had another series of quick passes all the way to the top of the 18-yard box,” said Schweitzer. “But center back Kristie Braken-Guelke intercepted a pass, played midfielder Angela Karamanos who sent a ball to forward McKenzie Flood on the left channel. Flood then embarked on a roughly 60-yard run, before crossing to streaking forward McKenna Cutting, who extended and touched the ball past the Palo Alto keeper to give us a 2-0 lead.”

The Los Gatos coach praised the work of his defensive back line in the win.

“This game showed how good we can be defensively,” he said. “Our goalkeeper, Mayté Corral, and back four defenders [Braken-Guelke, MacKenzie Archer, Sammy Stephens and Ais Rooney] played the entire game and were virtually unbreakable.”

Corral had another big day in the goal against Los Altos, who came through with six of her seven saves in the first half. But the Eagles broke a scoreless tie in the 69th minutes.

“Los Altos then fell into a defensive shell and we would not threaten again,” said Schweitzer.

It’s third-and-1 at the Chiefs 14-yard line and the Raiders running game was doing well. Instead, Raiders threw incomplete, were pushed back by a penalty and then threw incomplete again in 21-13 defeat.